Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa

posted by Kalyn Denny on September 26, 2009

Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa is an easy dinner; use any firm white fish if halibut is not in the budget. This tasty dinner is low-carb, gluten-free, South Beach Diet Phase One, dairy-free, and if you use approved hot sauce this can be Paleo or Whole 30. Use the Grilling Index to find more ideas for the grill!

I’m still in San Francisco, where today I’ll be speaking on a panel at the BlogHer Food Blogging Conference about Food Blogging Best Practices. This Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa is something I cooked last week using the Tomatillo Salsa with green chiles roasted on the grill, but you could also use the Southwestern Rub and idea of green salsa on fish with any other type of white fish.

Halibut is something I haven’t cooked much the last few years because it’s expensive, but I decided to splurge when Costco had wild Alaskan halibut at a better price than I’d seen for a while (plus my 84 year-old dad had wistfully commented that he hadn’t eaten halibut in a long time, and I wanted to make it for him!)

I cooked Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa on an outdoor grill, but if you don’t have a grill (or you’re making this when the weather isn’t great outside) you could certainly use a Stovetop Grill Pan to make this tasty fish dinner any time of year.You can substitute the Southwestern Rub or just use any seasonings you have on hand for the fish. You could also make something very tasty by using the rub from this recipe with tomatillo salsa in a jar, so no worries if you don’t have tomatillos to make the salsa!

I made a rub by combining small amounts of onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, ground ancho chile, Sumac, salt, and Szeged Fish Rub. Don’t stress if you don’t have every one of those ingredients, use what you have. (I lick my finger and taste the rub to make sure one ingredient doesn’t overpower the others.) Then rub each side of fish with olive oil, sprinkle with a generous amount of the rub, and spread it around with your fingers. (Use one hand for sprinkling and the other for rubbing so you can do both side of the fish without having to wash your hands!)

Fish with a curved surface is hard to get good grill marks, so start out with the grill on high and turn to medium-high as soon as you put the fish on. Even after doing that I wasn’t thrilled with my grill marks, but it tasted great! I used the Tomatillo Salsa with Roasted Green Chiles, Cilantro, and Lime to serve over the halibut, but you can use a commercial brand of tomatillo salsa as well.

Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa

Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa is an easy dinner and works with any firm white fish if halibut is not available.

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

4 pieces halibut or other white fish, or one per person (thawed if frozen and patted dry with paper towel)

olive oil for oiling fish and grill

Southwestern Rub Ingredients:

1/2 tsp. garlic powder (not garlic salt)

1/2 tsp. onion powder (not onion salt)

1/2 tsp. ground Cumin

1/2 tsp. ground Ancho chiles (or use any chile powder you like)

1/2 tsp. Sumac (optional, but great in this; Sumac tastes a bit like lemon so dried lemon peel might be a good substitute)

1/4 tsp. salt (I used fine grind sea salt)

1 tsp. Szeged Fish Rub (or use any brand of fish rub you have or some other type of all-purpose seasoning)

Tomatillo Salsa with Roasted Green Chile, Cilantro, and Lime for serving (See instructions for recipe or use any type of salsa you like with this.)

Directions:

Put a little olive oil on a paper towel and rub grill grate with it.

Preheat grill to high (you can only hold your hand there for about a second at that heat.)

Combine rub ingredients in a small bowl and stir together. (I lick my finger and taste to be sure one ingredient doesn’t overpower the others, especially if you’re making any substitutions in my recipe.)

Dry surface of fish with a paper towel, then one side at a time, rub fish with olive oil, sprinkle on generous amount of the rub (about 1/2 tsp.) and spread around on the surface of the fish. (Use one hand to rub and the other to sprinkle so you can do both sides.)

For fish that has a tendency to stick to the grill, I oil the grill a second time with another oil-soaked paper towel right before I put the fish on.

Notes:

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa would be great for low-carb or low-glycemic diet plans, and everything about this low-glycemic main dish is perfect for any phase of the South Beach Diet. (Tomatillos are technically a fruit, but like tomatoes, they are approved for any phase.

Nutritional Information?
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, you can sign up for a free membership with Yummly and use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information. Another option is entering the recipe into this Recipe Nutrition Analyzer, which will calculate it for you.

Nice looking fish, Kalyn. Great tip about the oiled grill grates. You can get away without doing that for beef and pork. Sometimes even chicken. But with fish it is a definite MUST DO or you'll end up leaving half your fish behind.

Thanks Kaylyn that is great idea! That what we will have for lunch today, but I'm serving it instead of the Tomtillo Salsa with sauteed green beans and garlic mashed potatoes.I hope you are having Fun as well in SF and not only work! Enjoy the rest of your stay, and good luck! Cheers! Fay

Thanks Kalyn. Another recipe to add to my list where I can use my newly purchased sumac. I love halibut and shamefully pay the dear price for it now that I see it coming back into the market after a long absence here in NYC. Thanks and enjoy SF, another terrific city.

This halibut recipe is absolutely gorgeous! I really admire what you've done w/ your site, and it was so exciting to meet you at BlogHerFood. Wish we would have had more time to chat & visit. I guess there will be more events where we can do that.